Is God male or female? This has become a sensitive issue in contemporary Christian theology with feminism (both liberal and evangelical) attaching much significance to the gender issue relative to God. The cultural gender revolution is not only impacting how people think about themselves but also how they view God.
In pagan and polytheistic religions, gods often have genders which would enable them to sexually interact with each other, and even with humans. But the God of the Bible, the only true and living God, is Spirit (John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17) and not material. He has no physical form. Moses was very explicit to the Israelites about God’s nature: “…for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb…” (Deut. 4:15). God does not have the form of any human, animal, or inanimate thing on earth. Therefore, we can say, according to God’s own self-revelation, that God has no physical gender – male or female (see also Deut. 4:10-12, 15-20; Ex. 20:4-5).
Gender has a biological component firmly rooted in the physical body. Gender is not merely a personal mindset or a social construct, but an aspect of God’s fixed order in creation. God is Spirit and does not have a physical body or any of the physical markers of gender. Gender and sexuality belong to the created order, and it cannot be attributed to the transcendent Creator God of Scripture who has no form but is Spirit only. Any attribution of sexuality to God is a reversion to paganism.
Some evangelical feminists argue that since man and woman are created in the image of God, God has male and female features. However, being created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) has nothing to do with physical or gender characteristics. Man and woman are created in God’s image in that they are greater and superior to the rest of creation since they are created with moral and spiritual capacities.1 They are patterned after the image of God, and not after any supposed gender of God. Even though God transcends gender, God also is the source of all gender.
It is significant that Jesus referred to God as “Father” and used masculine pronouns in reference to Him. The fatherhood of God is crucial in biblical revelation because it refers to the internal relationship within the Triune Godhead. “Father” is not simply a culturally conditioned term, but the proper name of God given by divine revelation.
God is frequently viewed through personal metaphors in the Bible. These metaphors primarily speak of God’s love and care for His people and reveal God to us in ways we can understand.
God is also depicted as both father and mother of Israel. “You neglected the Rock who begot you,2 and forgot the God who gave you birth” (Deut. 32:18, NASB). Also, in other biblical texts, maternal features are ascribed to God to highlight His compassion, tenderness, and loving care (Isa. 42:14; 49:15; 66:13).
When God became incarnate in the Person of His Son, Jesus’ physical form did not describe God’s essence. The gender of Jesus as man belongs to His human nature which must not be confused with His divine nature. Jesus’ masculinity no more proves that God is male, than that it proves that God is Jewish or mortal. As a matter of fact, the Gospel writers are careful to note that Jesus never uses the Greek masculine term “ane”r (male) for self-description. Jesus always uses the generic or inclusive term “anthropos” (human) when speaking of Himself.
We know God through His self-revelation. God has taught us in His Word how to speak of and address Him. We do not have the right to change the biblical concept of God.
Endnotes
1The image of God in man may also include the idea that God created man to be His visible living image on earth with qualities of knowledge, righteousness, and holiness that give man unique value, and dominion over the world as God’s representative.
2“You deserted the Rock, who fathered you…” (NIV).